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Page 15 ‘Tuesday, November 16, 1999
Scare tactics should not be used
to teach teen-agers responsibility
U sing scare
tactics
seems to
be the most pop
ular way of con
vincing teen
agers not to
engage in illegal
activities.
The DEAD
program, a DWI-prevention pro
gram whose name stands for
Drinking and Driving Ends All
Dreams, is the most recent exam
ple of trying to scare teenagers
into behaving properly.
A program recently implement
ed at A&M Consolidated High
School used teaching methods such
as a staged drunken-driving acci
dent and a person dressed as the
Grim Reaper roaming the hallways.
Using scare tactics to convince
teen-agers to be good will never be
effective. By the time most teen
agers reach high school, they are
well on their way to becoming
adults. Therefore, they should be
granted enough respect to be spo
ken to logically about such sub
jects as drinking and illicit drug
use, instead of emotionally scar
ring them with graphic examples.
The festivities began on the
morning of Nov. 4, when a two-
vehicle collision was staged in
front of A&M Consolidated.
Emergency personnel pulled the
front seat passenger from the car
— her face covered in fake blood.
Then, firefighters used the Jaws
of Life to remove the other three
passengers, who looked bloody
and pretended to be unconscious.
Next, a police officer began pulling
beer cans from the other vehicle,
the driver of which seemed to be
intoxicated. The drunken driver
was taken to a mock jail, while a
seemingly deceased passenger was
loaded into a body bag.
To remind students of the high
number of people who die of al
cohol-related accidents, the Grim
Reaper wandered around the
high school campus for the rest
of the day.
He stopped into a classroom
every 15 minutes to claim anoth
er “victim.” The 30 victims had
gray makeup applied to their
faces and were dubbed the “liv
ing dead.” The morbidity of the
DEAD acronym seems a little too
appropriate.
Teen-agers are exposed to ex
treme violence every day. It is an
accepted part of movies, video
games, musical lyrics and even
prime-time programming. Vio
lence is accepted as something
that happens — to other people.
No matter how grotesque the
staged car crash was, it will not
widely change this frame of mind.
The only people sure to take
displays like the DEAD one to
heart are those who have already
lost friends and loved ones to so
cially unacceptable activities such
as drunken driving.
But these people already know
first-hand what the DEAD pro
gram —- and others like it —- are
attempting to teach.
These people do not need to be
subjected to bloody, violent dis
plays like the one at A&M Consoli
dated to help them remember
drinking and driving is unsafe.
One would think today’s educa
tors would be intuitive enough to
realize that methods that have not
worked in the past probably will
not work now. And by emphasiz
ing scare tactics, they are failing to
address more pressing problems.
Alcohol is the No. 1 drug prob
lem among young people, accord
ing to the Center for Substance
Abuse Prevention (CSAP).
In addition, according to the
U.S. surgeon general, more than
half of all high school students
drink alcoholic beverages.
But the most disturbing statis
tic is that 2.6 million teen-agers do
not know that a person can die
from an alcohol overdose.
Apparently, educators have
been too busy proving to students
that dying in an alcohol-related ac
cident is horrible, to tell them ex
actly what the dangers of alcohol
consumption really are.
Instead of treating high-school
students as children who can be
frightened into not doing some
thing, teen-agers should be granted
the respect most of them deserve.
High school students generally
are intelligent enough to be pre
sented with the honest facts on a
given subject, and to make their
own decisions. There will be
changes only when students are
taught with respect.
Jessica Crutcher is a sophomore
journalism major.
elievers avoid criticism at any cost
hallenging a be
lief system is a
tricky thing, be-
few people
r how others will
when one cross-
? line between
Ssm and offen-
ess. Add in the
Everyone has dif-
■fit beliefs, as well
Wferent levels of those beliefs, and
||/orld gets even more complicated.
ese complications are simply prod-
ts of the nature of beliefs. They are
ihly personal, and people can feel
’eatened when what they believe to
itnio is made fun of or contested —
be to those who would ridicule a
ly-held belief, religious or not. But
wmg ethnocentrism and personal
jefs to get in the way of constructive
[ticism may eventually be more de-
|tive than the criticism itself. Blind
n anything can only lead to the de
oration of rational thought.
•Tht world is filled with examples of
pie or ideas meant to challenge be-
systems, but the most recent,
lebrity-ridden one is Dogma, a Kevin
lith (writer and director of Clerks and
Using Amy) film. In it. Smith overtly
■ues and reprimands Catholicism,
■ll as other products of organized
igions, such as televangelism. And
fgh his film never challenges the ex-
nce of God himself — or herself, as
^ case may be — this cinematic satire
.faith and religion has sent pulses ris-
jg wherever movie theaters are located.
One can easily understand why
gtholics, and many other Christians,
so upset. Smith’s Dogma is hardly
ther’s “95 Theses,” but it does get in
nty of shots before the credits roll.
Unfortunately, that is all people seem
see n the film — a collection of sly
cs and crude remarks about a firmly-
renched doctrine. Whether or not the
iis good, many people are discount-
itk primary, and perhaps necessary.
criticism because'of a vulgarly-worded
screenplay and a cast of evangelically-
unfriendly characters. It is the typical re
action to a controversial film, but these
reactions are counter-productive.
People may criticize and rant in their
own homes, but publicly, it seems de
fenders of the same beliefs must keep an
undivided front against the menace of
non-believers.
And religious matters are only the tip
of the iceberg when it comes to pushing
people to the edge of tolerance.
Blind faith can
only lead to the
deterioration of
rational thought.
Texas A&M students should under
stand this give-and-take of beliefs better
than anyone else. The University has
plenty of traditions that feel the sting of
criticism every year. Ask a Bonfire red-
pot how he feels about The Battalion
and notice how ordinary people might
turn into belligerent defenders of tradi
tion when threatened by other ideas.
Bonfire may not be as important to
people as their religious alignments are,
but as far as A&M goes, whether one is
for or against Bonfire can make a neu
tral Aggie feel as though they are in the
middle of A&M’s very own holy war
come Nov. 25.
Another sensitive subject is the quali
ty of education at A&M. Observe how
people react to comments about A&M’s
superiority, or lack thereof, academically
speaking. Even conservative A&M stu
dents will react with some type of of
fense when their education is being
ridiculed. And as badly as Aggies will re
act to a fellow student who criticizes
A&M, reactions are even worse when
non-Aggies put in their two cents.
It could be that Aggies are so worried
about appearing inferior that they over
compensate with righteous indignation
when anything derogatory about A&M
is announced or admitted. However, if
everyone ignores A&M’s academic
blemishes, they will never go away. Of
course, people almost always will de
fend something they are a part of, and
that is a big part of A&M’s draw — “Ag
gie for life” is not just a bumper sticker
phrase; it is a mentality. Nothing is
wrong with defending a belief or show
ing Aggie pride well after one’s gradua
tion, but there is something wrong with
hating others with different beliefs, or
from different schools, as it may be. It is
wrong to disregard something because
one might not like it.
When someone believes in some
thing, to what ends is a person allowed
to defend that belief? What types of
measures, if any, are acceptable when
one feels challenged? Or is belief fluid,
capable of change and expansion?
No one knows the answer to any of
these questions for sure — beliefs are not
structured enough to have certainty
when it comes to questions about them.
But what everyone knows is that a little
constructive criticism never hurt anyone.
Catholics, Bonfire supporters and
every other type of group are allowed to
protest when they feel their beliefs are
being maligned.
But if they only were to step back
and take satire and criticism for what
they really are — a documented recogni
tion of obstacles in the execution of a
belief, or beliefs — then believers might
better their faith or their practice. This
does not mean they should inordinately
change their beliefs to accommodate
someone else’s.
Rather, these criticisms might allow a
belief to improve upon itself, instead of
encouraging believers to strike out blind
ly against those challenging them.
Beverly Mireles is a junior
microbiology major.
NteUjcKMcl't
1 T ~r-r rr.rntG ZV«r<YT'r r ’PTt
Foreign policy
ability matters
In response to Mark Passwa-
ters’ Nov. 15 column.
In a tacit show of support
for Bush, Passwaters dis
misses the Texas governor’s
patent ignorance of foreign
affairs: “What relevance
should Bush’s blunder have
on campaign 2000? In a fair
world, probably none.”
Passwaters should be in
formed that owing to histor
ical dynamics and econom
ic globalization, the
presidency of the United
States of America should
not be held, or aspired to,
by average Georges. The of
fice is now so important
MAIL CALL
that some analysts have re
marked, half-jokingly, that
the election of the U.S.
presidency ought to be con
ducted all over the world.
Therefore, W. Bush’s con
tempt for the world’s citizen
ry, the true domain of the
U.S. presidency today, is un
acceptable.
Ayokunle Ogunshola
Graduate student
Dogma offends
Catholic beliefs
I went to see the free
sneak-preview of the Kevin
Smith movie Dogma. I was
sickened and appalled by
what I saw. The obvious
swipes at my faith were not
sruafCTfi
funny — they were mean-
spirited and bigoted.
Do you really think that
the MSC Film Society would
host a film that attacked the
beliefs of the Jewish people,
Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims
or any of the mainline Protes
tant denominations? What
would happen at this
school if that occurred?
How would you feel? How
do you think we feel?
Regardless of any dis
claimer, there has to be
some basic respect for a
person’s beliefs. Beliefs are
what we hold sacred and to
mock, ridicule and spread
falsehoods about those be
liefs is just plain wrong.
Mark Chaszar
Graduate student